«» Travel Notes 014: Cebu (Again)
A change of plans, making friends, and rediscovering adventure
HELLO. I’m Atom, and you’ve received my Travel Notes, which I send out once a week, every week:
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My goal here is to bring you with me to all 82 provinces of the Philippines. Solo travel can be thrilling, but I enjoy my travels more when I have someone to share it with.
I wasn’t too thrilled to be going back to Cebu.
After all, this trip resulted from a booking I made on a whim mid-last year. The world had opened up, I was excited to travel, and Cebu Pacific offered roundtrip tickets to Cebu for only PHP 2,200. So I saw an opportunity and booked six tickets for my family during Holy Week.
Between booking these tickets and going on the trip I...
Visited 13 new PH provinces, including a nine-day trip to Cebu for the Sinulog Festival,
Realized I had booked the wrong dates because I searched for the Holy Week schedule of 2022 instead of 2023, then
Scheduled a climb up G2, the most difficult mountain in the Philippines, during the actual Holy Week of 2023.
I badly wanted Cebu Pacific to cancel or reschedule our flights so I wouldn’t need to go anymore.
Never mind, I thought to myself. Let’s make this simple.
Day 1 - Travel to Moalboal
Day 2 - Sardine Run and Basdaku white beach
Day 3 - Sardine Run and Osmena Peak
Day 4 - Kawasan Falls Canyoneering
Day 5 - Travel to Cebu
If you’ve been to Moalboal, you would know this itinerary means a looot of free time. And if you were with me in Cebu for Sinulog, you would find this itinerary familiar. That is because it is. I decided to minimize preparation and planning by repeating everything. I even booked the same room in the same resort.
And this is what I love about traveling: Interesting, story-worthy moments are inevitable.
Even when you decide not to plan anything and even when you decide to do something you’ve already done, as long as you choose to go outside with your eyes above the ground, something interesting is bound to happen.
Only, it might not be obvious at first.
In my case, I was oblivious until day three.
The reason is that everything on day one and day two went as planned: we took the bus to Moalboal, we stopped by Carcar for lechon, we saw the sardines (and they were beautiful), we rented scooters, we drove 15 minutes north to Basdaku white beach, and we were surrounded by foreigners the entire time.
What woke me up? Well, a change of plans.
I expected Osmena Peak to be an easy ride and easy hike, but after talking to the local guides, we were advised that Osmena Peak was actually a 90-minute scooter ride away through steep, rocky roads. Although I was sure my family could handle the 30-minute hike that would follow, I wasn’t sure they would be up for the scooter ride.
I didn’t mind staying in the resort and sleeping, but I was obligated to bring my family around. So I started searching for things to do. I talked to all the dive shops I could find and asked them where we could dive, and I went on Google Maps and looked for attractions within our vicinity. Unfortunately, most dive sites were destroyed by Typhoon Odette, while all waterfalls besides Kawasan were at least two hours away.
In the end, it was Aedric who found Busay Cave. He approached trike drivers nearby and asked them what we could do in the area. They told us we could follow the highway for 5 minutes before following a cemented side road for 15 minutes to find Busay Cave.
If you look up Busay Cave on Google Maps, it has 43 reviews. Compare this to the 735 reviews of Osmena Peak, the 1,479 reviews of Basdaku white beach, and the 4,054 reviews of Kawasan Falls. You will realize how small a gem Busay Cave is.
It was beautiful: the water was crystal clear, ice-cold, and enchantingly blue.
After swimming, we went spelunking and found ourselves exiting the other side in the middle of the forest.
Canyoneering at Kawasan Falls was the one activity I didn’t get to do when I went to Cebu earlier this year, so it was the one thing I initially looked forward to on this trip.
It may be a touristy destination, but it’s worth the trip. My family and I had so much fun. We even made friends with our tour group: Julie from the Netherlands, Mari from Brazil, Martin from Belgium, Leonie from Switzerland, and Patrick from France.
On our final day, my mom got in touch with one of her friends from the fountain pen community, who grew up in Cebu and whose family owns one of the heritage houses in Cebu (Silva Heritage House).
I share a photo of this window because I felt overwhelmed by what seemed like simultaneously living in two time zones centuries apart. Because the house’s interior was preserved so well, it felt like I was living in the late 1800s. Yet, looking at the wooden framed windows, I found it hard to ignore just how far we’ve come in the time that’s passed. In place of carriages pulled by horses, we now have internal combustion engines driving four-wheeled metal boxes.
After the tour, we joined my mom’s friends for some traditional Carcar delicacies.
Sometimes, the best adventures are the ones you don't plan for.
And sometimes, the best plan is no plan.
Until next week,
Atom
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